Free 04 Volcano Adventure by Willard Price

later that Kobo had passed with flying colours.
    Dr Dan came running up the companionway to the deck.
    ‘Captain! Crowd on every inch of sail. Use the auxiliary too.’
    ‘What’s the rush?’
    ‘I’ve just had a radio call from the Hydrographic Office. They report an eruption about two hundred miles south.’
    Captain Ike called to Omo to loose the staysails and start the engine.
    ‘What course?’ he asked Dr Dan.
    ‘Set your course for Myojin Island.’
    Captain Ike scanned his chart.
    ‘There’s no such place. It says here Myojin sank out of sight forty years ago.’
    ‘She’s just popped up again.’
    Hal and Roger, who had been loafing on the deck, suddenly came to life. ‘Are we going to see a big eruption?’ inquired Roger. ‘According to the seismographs it’s so big that if it exploded in the middle of New York, there would be no New York.’ ‘Who reported it to Tokyo?’ Hal asked. ‘The captain of a fishing schooner. His ship was nearly buried under ashes. He escaped just in time.’ ‘Did they tell you anything more?’ ‘They’re sending their own exploration ship to have a look at it. Her name is the Kaiyo Maru. She’s already on the way with nine scientists and a crew of twenty-two. If we’re lucky we may catch up with her.’ ‘Did you say that the volcano is making an island?’ ‘Yes. There used to be an island there years ago, then it disappeared. Now a new island is being thrown up.’
    ‘Isn’t that unusual - for a submarine volcano to make an island?’
    ‘Not at all. Most of the islands in the Pacific were thrown up by submarine volcanoes. Even the coral islands rest on the rims of old volcanoes.’
    ‘And new ones are coming up all the time?’
    ‘Exactly. There are more than twenty islands in the Pacific now that did not exist fifty years ago. The Pacific, you know, is the most volcanic part of the globe. There are about three hundred active volcanoes in the world, and seven-eighths of them are in or around the Pacific.
    Probably there are a great many volcanoes beneath the sea that we don’t know about and every now and then one of them tosses up an island. Sometimes the island doesn’t last. It may disappear again.’
    ‘What makes it disappear?’
    ‘It may be made up mostly of volcanic ash, and in that case the waves will gradually wash it away. If it is made of solid lava it is more likely to stay. But even a solid island isn’t safe if there’s a volcano under it. The terrific forces in the volcano may push the island higher, or they may shrink and let the island drop beneath the waves.’
    Dr Dan picked up the binoculars and scanned the horizon ahead.
    ‘I see it!’ he exclaimed. ‘The column of smoke.’
    Roger grinned. ‘I think you’re kidding us, Dr Dan. You said it was two hundred miles away. Nobody can see two hundred miles.’
    ‘That’s where you’re wrong. You can see a million miles.’
    ‘A million miles!’
    ‘Of course. How about the sun and the stars? They are millions of miles away but you can see them very plainly.’
    That gave Roger something to think about.
    ‘Now I suppose you’ll be asking me another question,’ said Dr Dan. ‘If we can see the smoke two hundred miles away, why can’t we see the Kaiyo Maru which is fifty miles or so ahead of us?’
    ‘Oh, I know the answer to that one,’ said Roger. The ship is too low - the curve of the earth hides it. The smoke cloud is very high.’
    ‘Right. At least two miles high.’
    ‘When do we get there?’
    ‘Perhaps early tomorrow morning. What speed are we making, Captain?’ ‘Seventeen knots.’
    ‘A wonderful little ship!’ said Dr Dan. The Lively Lady trembled as if with pleasure at this compliment. She vibrated like a harp with the pull of the wind on the sails. She flew over the waves like a flying fish.
    She was no ordinary fishing schooner. She did not carry the usual gaff mainsail. She was equipped with the fastest sail in the world, the triangular Marconi.